Long to reign over us

This week the Queen became Britain's oldest ever Monarch. When she was born it was not thought that Princess Elizabeth might become Queen. However the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 led to the enthronement of Elizabeth's father George VI, whose death in 1952 led to the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen has been and remains an impeccable and inspirational head of state. Not only is she head of state in the United Kingdom, but also in 15 other realms. As head of the Commonwealth she retains a special place in the hearts of millions who live beyond these shores, as was demonstrated earlier this year during her attendance at the Commonwealth summit in Uganda.

I was only three years old when the Queen was crowned. The music composed for the coronation service – Edmund Parry's "I was Glad" – remains one my favourites and was used during my installation Birmingham Cathedral 2002 and at York Minster two years ago. .

I remember as a young boy gathering together with my family around the radio on Christmas Day to listen to the Queen's Christmas message to the UK and the Commonwealth. It is a tradition that has lived on in our household, along with those of so many others. So this year, as with years before, after a good Christmas lunch I will gather together with my family around the television at 3pm.

The Queen shares with her late father a deep religious Christian faith that has sustained and guided her throughout her reign. That faith has run like a Golden thread deeply interwoven through her duties and her fulfilment of them. As one of only five kings or queens since the Norman Conquest in 1066 to reign for more than half a century, her ability as a head of state to represent and unite a country in times of celebration or crisis, grows with each passing year. Her reign constitutes a continuing rebuff and rebuttal to those who would call for a republic. The spokesperson for an anti-monarchist group was quoted this week as saying that: "It would be in her interests and those of the country if she stepped down and enjoyed a peaceful retirement." What nonsense !

The Queen represents one of the things that is best about Britain. This country's tendency to magnanimity over tolerance, fair play over foul and openness to change are all reflected in our Monarch who combines such characteristics with a wisdom and experience that has overseen ten Prime Ministers and six Archbishops of Canterbury.

I look forward to joining in with the rest of the country for the celebrations to come on 9th September 2015 when Elizabeth passes the record of Queen Victoria, who ruled for almost 64 years, and becomes the longest-reigning monarch in our country's history.

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2007/12/23/a-queen-fit-for-a-crown-98487-20264088/

Happy Christmas


Christmas is a wonderful time of year when good will is rarely in short supply. The willingness of people to go that extra mile for each other during the Christmas season is one of the many things that makes this time of year so precious.

So after the turkey has been eaten and the presents unwrapped, spend some time thinking about that child born in Bethlehem, when God entered human history and changed the world and our understanding of it forever.

The Christmas message does not set up two alternative worlds – it does not ask us to leave the real, immediate, compromised and uncomfortable world, and enter some sort of 'spiritual' alternative.

The movement of God is precisely in the opposite direction, for in Jesus, born for us, God says an emphatic 'Yes!' to the world, and invites us to join Him in transforming both it and ourselves.

God trusts and believes in us implicitly. His love affair with us is such that he longs to transform us into those people we were made to be, with each of us as a sacred stand-in for God. Have a blessed Christmas.

May the message of the Angels, sung to the Shepherds high on a hill over Bethlehem, be yours this Christmas: "Glory to God in the Highest and peace on earth to all."

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